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Comparing Benefits and Total Compensation in the Federal Government and the Private Sector: Working Paper 2012-04

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  • Justin Falk

Abstract

This analysis integrated Current Population Survey data from 2005 through 2010 with data on a wide range of employee benefits to compare the cost of those benefits for federal employees and for workers in the private sector who have certain similar observable characteristics. In that comparison, we found that the average cost of benefits was about 72 percent higher for federal employees than for their private-sector counterparts among workers with no more than a high school education, was about 46 percent higher in the federal sector among workers with a bachelor’s degree,

Suggested Citation

  • Justin Falk, 2012. "Comparing Benefits and Total Compensation in the Federal Government and the Private Sector: Working Paper 2012-04," Working Papers 42923, Congressional Budget Office.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbo:wpaper:42923
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    File URL: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/112th-congress-2011-2012/workingpaper/2012-04fedbenefitswp0.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew G. Biggs & Jason Richwine, 2011. "Comparing Federal and Private Sector Compensation," AEI Economics Working Papers 47508, American Enterprise Institute.
    2. Gourieroux, Christian & Monfort, Alain & Trognon, Alain, 1984. "Pseudo Maximum Likelihood Methods: Theory," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 681-700, May.
    3. Robert Novy-Marx & Joshua D. Rauh, 2009. "The Liabilities and Risks of State-Sponsored Pension Plans," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 191-210, Fall.
    4. David G. Lenze, 2009. "Accrual Measures of Pension-Related Compensation and Wealth of State and Local Government Workers," BEA Working Papers 0054, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    5. Justin Falk, 2012. "Comparing Wages in the Federal Government and the Private Sector: Working Paper 2012-03," Working Papers 42922, Congressional Budget Office.
    6. Alicia H. Munnell & Jean-Pierre Aubry & Laura Quinby, 2011. "Comparing Compensation: State-Local versus Private Sector Workers," State and Local Pension Plans Briefs slp20, Center for Retirement Research, revised Sep 2011.
    7. repec:aei:rpaper:26139 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Justin Falk & Nadia Karamcheva, 2018. "Comparing the Effects of Current Pay and Defined Benefit Pensions on Employee Retention: Working Paper 2018-06," Working Papers 54056, Congressional Budget Office.
    2. Falk Justin R., 2012. "Comparing Benefits and Total Compensation between Similar Federal and Private-Sector Workers," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-37, October.
    3. Justin Falk, 2012. "Comparing Wages in the Federal Government and the Private Sector: Working Paper 2012-03," Working Papers 42922, Congressional Budget Office.
    4. Claire Boeing-Reicher & Vincenzo Caponi, 2024. "Public wages, public employment, and business cycle volatility: Evidence from U.S. metro areas," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 54, October.

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